I have a four month old Akita male. I have heard lots of opinions about whether to neuter or not. I have no reason not to neuter. My question, which has not been answered after searching many web pages is this, What age is the best age for my dog to be neutered?

luckypenny

April 30th, 2010 06:10 PM

Welcome to pets.ca, Limey77 :). I'm sorry to inform you that we can not answer any questions unless new members post pictures of their pets :cool:.

:D Just kidding (although it would be awfully nice to see your furbaby :cloud9:).

Not sure if you'll find any definitive answers to your question. There are many pros and cons to neutering early [I]or[/I] waiting until a dog reaches maturity. I think LavenderRott had posted some references to studies...I'll pm her this thread.

Personally, although I know some may not agree with me, if I only had one dog who showed no signs of aggression towards other dogs of the same sex, I most likely would wait until at least 1 year old...maybe even 2 (taking extra precautions of course to avoid any accidental breeding). As it is, we have four...a male who doesn't easily accept other mature males, and three females. We've fostered dogs before who were in heat and it created too much tension amongst the girls. We opted to spay our last adopted pup before she had her first heat because of this.

Hope we can get you the right info to help with a decision best suited for your particular circumstances.

LavenderRott

April 30th, 2010 06:48 PM

I am surprised you haven't found anything listing the pros and cons of pediatric spay/neuter. What does your breeder say?

There are several studies that show a correlation between pediatric spay/neuter with an increase in cancers, an increase in joint related issues (both hip and elbow dysplacia) and some behavioral issues.

Unfortunately, I just got a new computer and don't have all the bookmarked pages that I once had. I do have this link - you will need to download onto Adobe Reader the link at the bottom of the page.

[QUOTE]On the positive side, neutering male dogs
• eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
• reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)
On the negative side, neutering male dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a
common cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
• increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
• triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
• quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.savethedals.org/earlyneuter.htm[/url]
Veterinary "Review" Article on Neutering, with Implications for Dalmatian Stone-Formers Abstracted by Carroll H. Weiss
Study Group on Urinary Stones
Research Committee
Dalmatian Club of America

[url]http://www.littleriverlabs.com/neuter.htm[/url]
The Question Of Neutering and at what age
(Put together by Gregg Tonkin, Little River Labradors from postings by Pam Davol PHD and Chris Zink DVM, PhD, DACVP)

[url]http://www.petresource.com/Articles%20of%20Interest/new_views_on_neutering.htm[/url]
New Views On Neutering
By Ruth Marrion, DVM

[url]http://www.acc-d.org/2006%20Symposium%20Docs/Session%20I.pdf[/url]
Non-reproductive Effects of Spaying and Neutering
Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Non-Surgical
Contraceptive Methods for Pet Population Control • [url]www.acc-d.org[/url]
SESSION OVERVIEW - Dr. John Verstegen

[url]http://www.doglistener.co.uk/neutering/rspca.shtml[/url]
RSPCA Admit to Spaying and Castrating Puppies AT SIX WEEKS OLD
Stan Rawlinson MTCBPT.MPAACT
Doglistener Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer

[url]http://users.lavalink.com.au/theos/Spay-neuter.htm#vacc[/url]
Should I spay or should I no..? -- pros and cons of Spay-neuter
Hungarian Vizsla Health Resource

[url]http://www.doglistener.co.uk/neutering/spaying_neutering.shtml[/url]
Spaying and Castration (Neutering) Dogs and Cats A Stark Warning
Stan Rawlinson, a full time Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer.

Neuter/Spay - Health, Behavioural, Societal and Other Pros and Cons
This is a reading list of articles and papers by Veterinarians, breed clubs, trainers and others on neutering or spaying your dog that I have found helpful and very educational. Most are based on extensive Veterinary research and also provide references you can check further. If you are wrestling with the question of when or whether to neuter/spay these may help. They do not all agree and one is even a rebuttal of another. One is a link to a radio show interview. One is a link to a medical testosterone suppressant not yet available in N. America but is in the U.K. and Australia. Some are not easy reading.

I think I personally found the first two in the list to be of most help and I appreciated the non-biased way the information was presented. The list is in no particular order, articles were simply added as I discovered them. If the links are not clickable I have tried to include the name of the paper and author in case you have to search for them. I hope this helps folks out and good luck with your decision. A tip, I went to my Vet to discuss the first two articles with her.

Laveder Rott's quote is from the first link.

LavenderRott

April 30th, 2010 07:40 PM

My new computer thanks you for the links, Longblades!

Longblades

April 30th, 2010 07:58 PM

My computer says yours is welcome. :D There are a few more I should add but haven't got around to it. If you have any I don't would be happy to see them, once you get them from your old computer that is.

LavenderRott

April 30th, 2010 08:12 PM

[QUOTE=Longblades;913713]My computer says yours is welcome. :D There are a few more I should add but haven't got around to it. If you have any I don't would be happy to see them, once you get them from your old computer that is.[/QUOTE]

OY! Between spay/neuter, raw feeding, vaccinating, puppymills, genealogy and other misc. stuff - I probably have close to 500 bookmarks on the old computer. I think I just might start over - it would probably be easier.:D

luckypenny

April 30th, 2010 08:52 PM

Fantastic! Thanks for all those links, Longblades.

Limey77

May 1st, 2010 03:28 AM

Thank you all for the input and thanks for the links. There are quite a few. Not sure why I couldn't find them.